Having a class full of attentive young learners sitting with a book and studying keenly seems like a dream at times right? Learning English can be a daunting task for many students irrespective of whether English is their first language or not.

The reason is the inconsistency in the rules that may or may not apply in some cases. This leads to frustration and may lead to quitting by some students. 

However, incorporating games into the learning process can transform this challenge into an exciting and enjoyable journey. Games are not only fun but also serve as a vital educational tool, helping to engage students in a meaningful and interactive way. 

In this blog, let’s explore the significance of games in teaching English, their roles at various stages of the class, and the diverse types of games that can be utilized to enrich vocabulary, enhance conversational skills, and master grammar.

Importance of Games for Engaging Students

Games infuse energy and excitement into the classroom, making learning more appealing. They encourage participation, foster motivation, and can significantly improve retention of the material taught. Games also enable students to practice language skills in a context that mimics real-life interactions, making them an indispensable tool in the toolkit.

Roles of Games in Classroom

Games play a significant role in keeping the students engaged in the class and warming them up while having fun.

• Warming up: Games can break the ice and warm up students for the lesson ahead, setting a lively tone.

• During lessons: Integrating games during the lesson helps to reinforce new concepts and language skills in a more engaging way.

• End of class: Games serve as a memorable close to a session, consolidating what has been learned and leaving students with a positive impression.

Additionally, there are a variety of games that can be incorporated into your lessons whether to test vocabulary, practice conversing, or learn tenses.

These games ensure that learning is comprehensive and balanced. Each type targets specific areas of language learning, providing a rounded educational experience.

Without further ado, let’s jump right into some fun English games to keep your little ones entertained. 

Interactive English Games

There are loads of games that you can choose from. They’ll keep your young learners engaged and keep their interest for longer. 

• Fun Grammar Games for Kids

Interactive grammar games like 'Grammar Gorillas' and 'Noun Explorer' make learning parts of speech engaging for children. 

Grammar Gorillas: Players select the correct part of speech to help the gorillas get a banana. 

Noun Explorer: Children navigate through a virtual world, identifying nouns to unlock levels.

• Reading Comprehension Games

Online platforms offer games where students can read stories and answer questions, improving their comprehension skills dynamically. Find some examples below. 

Story Jumper: Students read digital books and then complete quizzes testing their understanding of the story. 

Into the Book: A game where students use their reading strategies to go into a story and complete a series of educational challenges.

Find more reading comprehension activities for kids here. 

• Interactive Writing Games

Games such as 'Story Scramble' help children organize sentences to form coherent stories, boosting their writing skills. Find fun games below. 

Story Scramble: Children arrange scrambled sentence fragments to construct a story, improving their understanding of sentence structure. 

Book Creator: Allows students to own digital books, incorporating text, images, and audio, which helps them understand narrative structure and develop creative writing skills.

• Free Word Games & Puzzles

Word search puzzles and crossword puzzles are excellent for vocabulary expansion and are readily available online for free. Here are tips to help you. 

Word Search Creator: An online tool where teachers can generate word search puzzles tailored to new vocabulary. 

Daily Crossword: A free online crossword puzzle updated daily, perfect for incorporating new vocabulary and testing students’ retention.

• Cool Spelling Games for Kids

Spelling bees and online spelling challenges allow kids to practice their spelling in a fun and competitive environment. Here are some examples. 

Spelling City: Offers a variety of games where children can practice spelling lists through engaging activities like unscrambling words and spelling tests. 

HangMouse: A fun variation of Hangman that challenges students to spell words correctly to save the mouse from the cat.

Find some more spelling activities for your kids here. 

Wait, there’s more. There are some classroom activities as well that can make your classes more fun for children. 

Fun English Games: Classroom Activities

To be honest, games can only hold children’s attention for as long as they don’t find a more interesting game. So here are some classroom activities for you to keep it fresh. 

• Classroom Scrabble Activity

Transforming traditional Scrabble into a collaborative classroom activity enhances vocabulary and spelling.

Pro tip: You can make it into a team activity where teams collaborate to use their collective vocabulary knowledge to create words on the Scrabble board, competing against other teams for the highest score.

• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire

Adapting this game show format to review English concepts can be a thrilling experience for students.

Pro tip: Make it an English Trivia Millionaire by using English grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension questions. Students can use lifelines like 50/50 or ask the class to aid their decisions.

• Classroom Pictionary Activity

Encourages students to express vocabulary through drawings, enhancing their recall and creative thinking.

Pro tip: Make it Vocabulary Pictionary and get students to draw representations of new vocabulary words while their peers guess the words, enhancing both verbal and visual learning.

• Line Up According to Activity

This interactive game gets students to line up based on responses to English prompts, making for a dynamic learning environment.

Pro tip: Make a Verb Tense Line-Up where students receive cards with sentences in different tenses and must line up in chronological order according to the actions described. It is a dynamic way to teach verb tenses.

Now, let’s move ahead and include some digital resources as well. 

Fun English Games: Instructional & English Videos

There are plenty of instructional videos and other digital resources that you can use to make your classes more interesting. 

• English Words & Vocabulary Videos

Educational videos that introduce new words and their meanings can be very effective for visual learners.

VocabAhead: Short videos that define and give examples of various English words, ideal for building a robust vocabulary.

• Free English Grammar Videos

Platforms like YouTube offer numerous grammar tutorials that are free and accessible. However, there are many other options as well. 

Grammarly’s Grammar Tips: Video series that explains complex grammar rules in simple, engaging ways, suitable for all age groups.

• Funny English Video Clips

Clips showing amusing mistakes in English can help highlight common errors memorably. It will engage your students even more as they would try to find the errors themselves as they learn more. 

Comical Language Mix-Ups: A series of video clips featuring amusing language misunderstandings and errors from various TV shows and films. Just keep in mind to use the clips appropriate for kids. 

• Fun English Videos for Kids

Animated videos tailored for children make learning English delightful and less intimidating.

Peppa Pig’s Adventures: These episodes often incorporate basic English phrases and are designed to be easily understood by young learners, making learning English fun and engaging.

Yes, there’s more. Let’s jump into some other fun ways of teaching English. 

Fun English Games: Words, Riddles & More

From tongue twisters and funny idioms to riddles and jokes, infusing humor into learning English can greatly enhance the educational experience, making it both enjoyable and effective. Let’s look at them closely. 

• Tongue Twisters: Tongue twisters like "She sells seashells by the seashore" challenge students to articulate English sounds quickly and accurately. You can pick some more based on your children’s age and skills. 

• Funny English Words: Words like "bamboozle" and "flabbergasted" can be amusing to learn and say.

• Animal Jokes: These have to be a hit with the kids. Tell them one and wait for them to come up with more. "Why did the cow go to outer space? To visit the Milky Way!"

• Funny Idioms: "It’s raining cats and dogs," accompanied by pictures, helps illustrate the meaning humorously. They’ll remember them for longer if they find the picture funny.

• Funny Riddles: Riddles are loved by kids and adults alike. So why not use them to make your classes interesting? "What has keys but can’t open locks? A piano!"

• Funny Anagrams: Turning "listen" into "silent" as a playful way to engage students with vocabulary. You can also encourage them to come up with their own. 

It’s not over yet. Here are some more games. 

Specific Games and Activities for Learning English

1. Board Race for Revising Vocabulary and Grammar: Teams race to write relevant words on the board based on given prompts, enhancing vocabulary and grammar recall.

2. Simon Says to Enhance Listening Comprehension and Vocabulary: Players follow actions dictated by "Simon" if preceded by "Simon says," focusing on listening skills and vocabulary reinforcement.

3. Word Jumble Race Focusing on Grammar and Spelling: Participants unscramble jumbled letters or sentences to form correct words or syntax, improving their spelling and grammar.

4. The Mime for Vocabulary and Speaking Practice: Players act out words or phrases without speaking, encouraging understanding through body language and boosting vocabulary and speaking confidence.

5. Hot Seat to Build Vocabulary While Encouraging Competition: A player guesses a word based on teammates' descriptions without using the word itself, enhancing vocabulary and team collaboration.

6. Where Shall I Go? for Practicing Prepositions: Players give and follow directions using prepositions, improving their understanding and use of prepositional phrases.

7. What’s My Problem? for Speaking, Listening, and Giving Advice: One player describes a problem without naming it directly while others listen and offer advice, fostering speaking, listening, and problem-solving skills.

You can explore some more literacy games for kids here. 

Concluding Thoughts

Here we are. We hope these games will help you in making English lessons for your kids fun and engaging. Incorporating games into English language teaching transforms the classroom into a dynamic and engaging environment.

These activities enhance student engagement, boost retention, and deepen comprehension in an enjoyable, accessible way.

By integrating these interactive elements into their lesson plans educators can ensure that learning English is not just an academic task but an exciting adventure.

This approach encourages students to see English as a tool for creative expression and interaction, increasing their willingness to practice and improve their language skills.

Adding to this dynamic world of educational games, FunFox brings a fresh and innovative touch. Offering a variety of interactive English learning games tailored specifically for young learners, we combine technology and education to make language learning even more engaging and effective.